Sam Barlow and his team at Half Mermaid sparked even more intrigue with their interactive full-motion video game story, Immortality. At the heart of Immortality is sifting through countless scattered movie clips about actress Marissa Marcel’s three films and her behind-the-scenes life to uncover the truth about her disappearance.
Fortunately, if you’re still craving more after this mind-blowing experience, there are many recommendations to try next.
10 Quantum Break
Quantum Break is a third-person science fiction combat game told in five acts. It follows the story of Jack Joyce, a researcher in a time travel experiment that went awry, allowing him to develop the ability to control time. It is also the first game from Remedy Entertainment to introduce movie into the gameplay.
At the end of each act, players get into the point of view of the villains of the game through a series of movie clips of the actual actors portraying the characters they voice in the game. It may be completely different in style from Immortality, but a fine example of seamlessly connecting third-person shooter mechanics with film.
9 The witness
Immortality is essentially one giant puzzle of a game built around a movie grid, with one puzzle piece from a movie clip leading directly to the next. The Witness follows the same format by letting you solve a series of maze puzzles that come one after the other without much context, becoming more challenging as you progress through each new area.
The game offers a stunning setting on an unknown island that flourishes with vibrant plant life and strange structures. In the game, philosophical sections are interwoven with images from films such as Tarkovsky’s Nostalgia and James Burke’s Connection television series, along with other lectures and interviews shown on a projection screen.
8 What’s left of Edith Finch
The Finch family is cursed and has been for generations. Every family member has died except for 17-year-old Edith Finch, who has now inherited her childhood home and is set to investigate the mystery behind her parentage.
It’s a first-person exploration game that playfully puts you in and out of the perspective of each of Edith’s family members to discover what led to their tragic deaths. The game features well-executed techniques for storytelling about the environment and plenty of twists and turns, which will stay with you long after you put the controller down.
7 When dusk falls
The lives of the Walker and Holt families converge at the Desert Dream motel in this solemn tale of a family bond intertwined with crime drama, developed by Caroline Marchal, a former lead designer of Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls, and her team at Int . /Night.
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As Dusk Falls is an interactive choice-based game with a refreshingly original 2D illustrated art style and animation with gripping performances by voice actors. The premise revolves around a family vacation that is disrupted in suspense after a trio of brothers hold them hostage in their motel.
6 Tell me why
Tell Me Why is an episodic mystery thriller from Life Is Strange’s Dontnod, which centers on twins whose lives are changed forever after one of them kills their mother in self-defense. You switch between Tyler and Alyson when they return ten years later to repair and sell their mother’s house, but you begin to question the circumstances surrounding that tragic night.
The game uses a branching storytelling style where your decisions can affect critical points in the story. The twins also discover that they have a shared ability to unlock their memories in certain places before their very eyes, a unique and helpful mechanic in uncovering the truth.
5 life is strange
Life is remarkably strange in this game that bends the genres of dark academic tension with supernatural abilities. Here you are left to answer the question – what happened to Chloe’s girlfriend Rachel Amber? Well, Chloe enlists the help of Max Caufield, a photography student who can turn back time, to help her find it.
Just like immortalityallows you to pause and rewind a video clip to a certain frame, Life Is Strange focuses on the gameplay sequence rewind mechanism to change the environment and influence the results that could potentially change the future through the butterfly effect.
4 Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition
Night Trap is a classic 1992 interactive film published by Sega CD that has recently been revived for its 25th anniversary. At the time, it was one of the most controversial games on the market for its violent and evocative content, but that’s probably okay if you’re playing Immortality.
While there isn’t much mystery to unravel from this game, as it usually feels like a simulator in an interactive movie, it’s still a solid entry into this genre and has vampires.
In much the same style as Immortality, you’re a neutral character who observes the full-motion video clips as surveillance footage from the Martin Home’s security cameras. Anytime you see intruders trying to do damage, you need to activate traps in designated locations to take out the threat.
3 she sees red
A murder in a nightclub catches the attention of a ruthless detective in this brutal 2019 Russian story thriller. You control the killer’s actions in the storyline, which runs parallel to the investigation timeline.
This piece is more attuned to Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch interactive movie than Immortality, as you only interact with the screen to choose between one of the two choices. However, it still presents an equally compelling mystery full of twists and turns within the FMV style.
2 Her story
Her Story is Sam Barlow’s first interactive film project as a solo act. In the same tone and fashion as Immortality, your interface here is an old desktop screen with clips of police interview footage of a woman who is a suspect in her husband’s murder. You have to search the footage and determine if you believe her version of events.
The mechanics go a step further than just rewinding and interacting with objects you see in the movie file. You have a database search at your disposal for key terms to find the necessary images you need to put the interview together in the right order.
1 Erica
Sinister undertones of horror creep into the story of Immortality. The deeper you dive into the movie scenes, the more dark content will come to light. Erica is a 2019 interactive movie game in which the titular character is shrouded in a mystery of the occult while still haunted by her father’s gruesome death.
Erica beautifully combines its cinematic visuals and gameplay elements into an immersive experience that makes you feel like a first-person character in a video game opening doors and interacting with objects. And there’s a good replayability factor as there are six different endings to unlock.
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